WSORR: Multiple Championships Up For Grabs at BorgWarner World Championships This Weekend

A ?perfect storm? of racing is zeroing in on the world capital of off-road, Crandon International Off-Road Raceway, as the little Wisconsin town with the big track prepares for what will certainly be the biggest weekend in short course off-road racing this season. The non-stop Labor Day race weekend, August 29-31, includes a total purse of $175,000, two ?shootout-style? cup races, World Championship rings handed out in 11 different classes, and season championships still to be determined in all classes of the Lucas Oil World Series of Off-Road Racing (WSORR). The 39th Anniversary BorgWarner World Championship RacesÒ and the final two rounds of the WSORR season provide the perfect setting for another thrilling chapter in the off-road racing record books.

Race action begins in earnest on Friday at 6 PM with the $20,000 Forest County Potawatomi ?Decision at Sundown? Challenge Cup race featuring top PRO Light Pickup class drivers. Last year?s inaugural event was won by current WSORR points leader Jeff Kincaid of Argonne, Wisc., in his Potawatomi TraxxasÒ BFG Toyota. Kincaid has positioned himself to accomplish an unprecedented ?triple? as he attempts to win the prestigious cup race, a World Championship title and clinch a WSORR season championship all within a 48-hour span. Kincaid will be challenged by Invisible Glass Toyota teammates Steve Federico and Lee O?Donnell, who rank second and third in the points and have a combined 12 podium finishes during WSORR Tour 2008.

PRO 2WD racer Dan Vanden Heuvel of Appleton, Wisconsin, has also been a frequent visitor to WSORR winner?s circle in his 900 HP Maxxis Chevy with three wins and podium finishes in nine of the ten rounds this year. Vanden Heuvel, with a 32-point lead, looks to clinch the season-long points title over another off-road veteran, Kevin Probst, in the E3 Spark Plugs Team Lucas Oil Toyo Chevrolet, who is coming off two dominating wins in a row. Evan Evans, in his Potawatomi BFG Chevy is another ten points behind Probst in third.

Kent Brascho, of Pell City, Alabama, is the only WSORR driver who has a lock on his points championship run and will do so simply by taking the green flag in the PRO 4x4 Round XI race. Brascho?s Lucas Oil Goodyear Chevy has a commanding points lead over Jerry Daugherty in the Racin? Dirty Goodyear Chevrolet. Brascho, winner of the big dollar 2008 FCP Chairman?s Cup race earlier in the season, faces an all-star studded field assembling in Crandon for the 14th annual BorgWarner Shootout and off-road?s top prize, the $125,000 BorgWarner Cup.

Former BorgWarner champions Johnny Greaves in the Potawatomi Monster Energy BFG Toyota, Carl Renezeder in the Lucas Oil Skyjacker BFG Ford, Scott Douglas in the Amsoil Kumho Ford, Curt LeDuc in the Rock Star Makita Toyo Ford and Scott Taylor in his PRO 2WD Skyjacker BFG Ford will all rumble to Crandon?s Traxxas land rush starting line with hopes of having their names inscribed again on the prestigious sterling silver cup. Greaves is the defending BorgWarner champion and LeDuc is the defending WSORR and Crandon PRO 4x4 ?World Champion? in the class.
However it unfolds, new WSORR champions will be crowned in all three PRO truck classes.

In the PRO Super Buggy class, points leader John Mason, Plymouth, Wisconsin, has a comfortable 37-point lead over last year?s champion Gary Nierop, and so must decide how much to risk in Saturday?s Round XI World Championship race. Mason?s Mendeola/Goodyear Honda has four wins on the season and he seeks to compliment his stellar 2008 season with a coveted World Championship ring. Nierop and Tim Lemons, both in Goodyear Toyota?s, lead the rest of the talented PRO Super Buggy field.

The most competitive World Series points battles are in the SRT (Sportsman) Division, highlighted by the 1600 Buggy race where Mark Steinhardt, of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, leads Mike Seefeldt by a single point. The two longtime rivals look to determine the 2008 WSORR title on the high-speed Crandon track while also trying to hold off Brad Erickson who is only 10 points off the pace.

Eric Ruppel, of Chetek, Wisconsin, has used a late season surge to push his Phil?s Inc/BFG Ford to the top of the Stock Truck class. He has a narrow 11-point margin heading into the final weekend of racing over defending class champion Scott Beauchamp in a Goodyear Chevy. Mathematically, seven of the class drivers are still in the running for the points championship so it?s safe to say the World Championship ring is also up for grabs in this class.
Keith Steele has won six of the 10 nrounds of Super Stock Truck races in 2008 and now looks to put his Monster Energy/Goodyear Chevy in the winner?s circle once more to cap off his consistent, season-long performance and clinch the title. Defending champion Ben Wandahsega, in his Potawatomi/Toyo Chevrolet, Dan Baudoux in the Mole Lake Casino/BFG Ford and Ross Hoek in the Skyjacker/Goodyear Ford all remain within striking distance if Steele should falter.

Mike Vanden Heuvel, of Appleton, Wisconsin, is the leading overall winner in the World Series with eight wins to his credit in 2008. six of them coming in his Toyo 1600 Light Buggy and two as a substitute driver in the 1600 Buggy class. Vanden Heuvel enjoys a commanding 36-point lead in the 1600 Light Buggy points battle, with only Matt Gerald, in the Potawatomi Goodyear buggy still mathematically eligible to knock him off the top spot.

Dave DeMaegd is zeroing in on back-to-back Formula 4x4 World Series titles in his Goodyear Jeep. The Mishawaka, Indiana-based driver has been on the podium in every single 2008 race and has a 33-point lead over Jim Ridderbush, who drives a BFG Chevy. However, Daugherty and the ageless Jerry Bundy ofTolland, Connecticut, have joined the fray for a World Championship ring. In Enduro Trucks, Jim Van Rixel leads Marc Rogaczewski in a Goodyear Ford by a single point, with Matt Wierzba in a Chevy in third. Rob Weiland hopes to clinch his second consecutive Classix title at Crandon win his Goodyear Chevy, wiith Dale Chestnut in a Goodyear Ford and Kurt Schuch providing the chase.

The BorgWarner Off-Road World Championships officially kick off on Friday, August 29 in downtown Crandon. with morning driver?s meetings and an annual World Championship Labor Day parade at Noon. More information about Crandon Raceway is available at crandonoffroad.com, while information about the World Series is found at WSORR.com.

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